The Missing Wallet

“Ring! Ring! Ring!” My alarm clock rang on Tuesday morning. I opened my heavy eyelids and gazed through the window. The sky was a cerulean blue and the magnolia clouds drifted across the horizon. Sunlight streamed through the window, making my room glow. I cursed my alarm clock for waking me up.        I got out of bed, dressed and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. After that, I went to school. On the way to school, I met my friend, Tommy. Tommy was my best friend and we sat next to each other. After recess, just as my teacher, Miss Tan was explaining a boring topic in Mathematics, Tommy suddenly raised his hand.        He said to Miss Tan, “Teacher, I’ve lost my wallet! Somebody in this class must have taken it!” The whole class let out a gasp. We looked at each other, wondering who had stolen Tommy’s wallet. Tommy said that his wallet was stolen during recess as he had seen his wallet in his pocket before recess. I remembered it very clearly. At that time, Tommy was showing off his new wallet to us in class. It was a very expensive branded wallet.        Miss Tan immediately asked the class who had taken Tommy’s wallet. Nobody confessed. There was silence all around. Tommy said that he had taken some money from his wallet to buy some food and had left it on the bench. Later, when he came back, his wallet was missing. We searched high and low for it in the class and in the canteen in case somebody had taken the wallet and left it there but to no avail. Tommy felt sad that his wallet was missing. As the dismissal bell was going to ring, we decided to search for the wallet the next day.        “Ring … Ring … Ring …!” The bell rang, signaling the end of school. Tommy and I went home together. I tried to comfort him, but in vain. Later, when I went home, I found Tommy’s wallet in my bag. I opened the wallet but there was no money in it. I felt puzzled. How did Tommy’s wallet end up in my bag? How come there was no money in it? Who could have put the wallet in my bag? Questions were swimming across my mind. Of course, I had no answers to these questions. I decided to return the wallet to Tommy.        The next day, when I gave the wallet back to Tommy and explained that I had found it in my bag, he looked angry. “Did you steal it?” was the only question he asked. I began to answer “Of course …” I had not even finished my sentence when Tommy walked off. I felt indignant. How could Tommy have thought that I had stolen his wallet? He jumped to the conclusion that I had stolen it despite the fact that I was his best friend!        In class, Tommy told the teacher that I had his wallet in my bag. The teacher questioned me whether I had stolen it. I denied that I had stolen it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Harry was perspiring and his hands looked sweaty. He looked panicky.        Suddenly, he raised his hand slowly. He said, “Miss Tan … I … err … I stole Tommy’s wallet.” The whole class gasped. Harry confessed that he had stolen Tommy’s wallet, as he did not like Tommy. He had taken out the money in Tommy’s wallet and had dropped the wallet in my bag. The teacher reprimanded him and he said that he would not do that again.        Tommy smiled at me and I knew that we were best friends again. As for Harry, he had to apologize to Tommy and return the money he had taken from the wallet.

Designed by Virtual Teacher Aide

Written by Melissa Loo Pri 6/1, 2002 Zhangde PS